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Underdogs bear championship dreams
By Nick Hansen
Published:
Monday, September 22, 2003
I could hear the laughter as we entered Selke Field; nobody saw us as a formidable match. If I saw five hung-over kids reeking of cigarettes and booze from the night before and a fat kid with a lazy eye, I wouldn't be intimidated either. The scene was set for the SCSU 2003 intramural flag football tournament.
Although 10 people had signed up to play, we could only muster six out of bed for our 10 a.m. game. Our opponents, the Stearns Stallions, were strapping young bucks with energy, a full team of seven, and plenty of enthusiasm. Even though it wasn't said, we really just wanted to lose the game and go back home to sleep so our headaches would go away.
It showed in our play. At half time, we were down 0-12. That was when we had a reality check. We remembered our team name was "No Tolerance," and like the title suggests, we had no tolerance for losing.
We came back and ran the field like Tiger Woods does the PGA. Our efforts led us to two touchdowns and got us a win, 14-12.
Now we were pumped. If our six-player team, without substitutions, could beat a seven-player one, we were sure we could kill a team with all 10. We gathered our entire crew and spent the afternoon in meditation to prepare for our next game at 4 p.m.
We hit the field ready to play. The guys we were playing were also serious, blinding us with matching red and black uniforms. At that point, however, the colors couldn't stop us. Our team gelled. We drove up and down the field while holding possession of the ball the vast majority of the time. Our offense and defense were consistent and unbeatable. Even the worst player on our team, a slow, flabby, bald kid made an unbelievable behind- the-back touchdown. Victory was ours, and we won 18-6.
The next game was at 6 p.m. Confidence and unity were high, but our bones were aching. The most exercise many of our players had gotten in the last month was walking to and from class. However, we sucked it up and acted like champions.
The other team was short players so we were lucky, and also ready to take advantage. We blew the guys out. In fact, we were so good that the other team forfeited after a blitz of three touchdowns in the first 10 minutes.
Ecstasy was in the air, and we were off to the championship game. Everyone on the team has played virtually every intramural sport the campus has to offer since freshman year. Thus far, however, none of us had ever been to a championship game. The game was set for 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
After the game, we all decided to stay sober and go to bed early to be in tip-top shape for the final game. Of course, it didn't happen.
The next morning brought heartache to all. The previous morning we had hangovers, but this morning, we had hangovers and indescribable physical pain throughout our entire bodies.
We made it to the field at 9:58 a.m. The horizon was filled with darkness and rain was in the forecast. It didn't look good.
Because the tournament was double elimination, our enemies, Phi Kappa Tau, had to beat us twice to win. It was a good thing too.
Our first loss was ugly. It included interceptions, incomplete passes, poor defense and lots and lots of swearing. We didn't even score. They beat us 26-0.
Now we were pissed off; defeat was not an option. Our second game against Phi Kappa Tau came directly after the first and we were not going to lose. Just before play, the rain finally started to fall.
The field was slick, but morale was high. We retaliated by holding off their offense, and forcing them to punt. After the punt I heard a loud screech. It was one of their key players. He lay swaying on the ground, grasping his twisted knee. A car came onto the field and drove him to the hospital. Now it was seven on six. Somebody must have wanted us to win that game.
It was a close game. We were ahead 12-8 with 48 seconds left and all we had to do was hold them off, but we didn't, and the ball sneaked by. They scored a touchdown for their fallen comrade.
The scene was grim; we had 48 seconds to score a touchdown.
I don't know how it happened, or why, but it did. Little by little, we pounded our way up the field. By utilizing our timeouts and strategically running out of bounds, we executed nine plays in 48 seconds. We ended up on the 10-yard line with four seconds left, and boom, we scored a touchdown. We had won our first SCSU intramural championship. It was the proudest moment of our lives.
Keep an eye out for us on campus. We'll be the guys wearing the intramural championship T-shirts for a month straight. (Much love goes out to teammates: Kirk, Kev, Dan, Stroty, Hubbs, Cal, Bracker, Horse and Alex.)
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